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Portola Valley: Feds charge resident with bank fraud

Federal authorities have charged Portola Valley resident Mark Migdal and co-defendant Naum Morgovsky (of Hillsborough) with two counts each of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy in connection with the sale of two rental properties in Hawaii, according to a Sept. 30 statement from the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California in San Francisco.

The charges by U. S. Attorney Brian J. Stretch and FBI Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett allege that Mr. Migdal, 71, and Mr. Morgovsky, 67, conspired to convince two banks to allow the sale of two condominiums to a deceased person whose identity was used to hide the identity of the true purchaser.

The conspiracy charge also alleges submission of false statements about Mr. Migdal's income and employment status, prosecutors said.

Federal authorities are seeking the forfeiture of the two properties.

The men were arraigned following an indictment by a federal grand jury on Sept. 29. Mr. Migdal was scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court Oct. 3 before U. S. District Judge Vince Chhabria.

Mr. Morgovsky is out of custody on a bail of $1 million and is next due in court on Tuesday, Oct. 4.

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Comments

14 people like this

Posted by why
a resident of Atherton: other
on Oct 3, 2016 at 1:07 pm

What is the point of this crime? Is this some kind of tax scam or were they trying to steal the properties outright? Maybe I'm just not rich enough to understand these kinds of people.